For three decades after gaining independence in 1960, Ivory Coast, under the
astute if patronising leadership of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the founding
father, was a model of stability.

The country was known for its religious and ethnic harmony and a
well-developed economy, but the peace was deceptive and could not survive
the death in 1993 of the man dubbed “the sage of West Africa”. Tensions and
rivalries, controlled by Houphouët-Boigny during his moderate but firm rule,
quickly boiled over and in 1999 his successor, Henri Bédié, was toppled in a
military coup.